Work on East Bank four-lane highway expected to speed-up

The pace of the construction of the East Bank Demerara four-lane road is expected to be hastened as the Work Services Group (WSG) is moving ahead with support from the power and telephone companies in addressing the challenge of utilities hindering the project’s execution.
There has been sloth in the multi-million dollar project stemming from the need for the removal and relocation of public utilities, such as power poles, gas line, telephone lines and utility poles, from within the project area.
According to General Manager of the WSG, Geoffrey Vaughn, the unit is in the final stages of wrapping-up discussions with the utility companies with regards to resolving these issues. “We had a meeting with the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) company last Friday (July 5) and coming out of that meeting we are hoping to come to a consensus in terms of the removal of the utilities especially the GT&T cables,” he said
And with regards to the issue of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) poles, Vaughn said this process of removal and relocation is moving smoothly. He said that the power company has already moved approximately 90 percent of its poles from the project area.
In terms of the actual project itself and the progress that is being made, Vaughn said that it is now seeing some progress in terms of execution. “There is still some slothfulness in terms of execution, but we are pushing along with the consultants to ensure this project moves a little faster, at a pace where we can see some resolution of the problems and the difficulties, in some instances that the commuters face on a daily basis,” he said.
The East Bank Demerara four-lane road expansion project spans about 5.2 kilometers starting from the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, going up to the Diamond intersection. It is being executed in three lots. Lot One from Providence to the Covent Garden Water Treatment Plant is being done by Dipcon Engineering, Lot Two from the Water Treatment Plant to Little Diamond by Gaico Construction and from Little Diamond to Diamond Intersection by BK International.
According to Manager of the Roads and Bridges Department, Ministry of Public Works, Ron Rahaman, Lot One is 30 percent completed.
Rahaman said that in certain sections, Dipcon has already started removing the soil charges following he required waiting period. “The six months have elapsed, the contractor is now removing the soil charge and he has commenced the placing of the sub-base material. Once that is successfully completed, he would then go on to the base material which is a cement stabiliser material and then the road will be asphalted.”
Rahaman said that other than this, Dipcon has commenced and completed two reinforced concrete culverts and has also started the construction of one reinforced concrete bridge. The concrete drains predominantly on the eastern side of the Bougainville Housing Scheme are under construction and of recent, he has started some concrete-way in the Farm area.
In terms of scheduled completion of this Lot of the project, Rahaman said that this aspect is expected to be completed in the first half of 2014.
In terms of Lot 2, the progress is about 38 percent completed. This aspect of the road-expansion is where Gaico is constructing a new carriageway in the cane fields on the eastern side of the East Bank road. Rahaman said that carriage is about 70 percent completed. “The contractor has finished placing the sub-base material. He is currently putting preparation in place to come up with base material-which is the cement stabilise base. He has also started the construction of two reinforced concrete bridges, and once those bridges are completed we expect to see the eastern carriage-way asphalted before the end of this year.”
Meanwhile, he admitted that BK International’s work in Lot 3 has been significantly delayed by utilities issue and that the progress of work is just about 15 percent completed. Rahaman said however that, “the contractor has completed all of the excavation, completed putting white sand filling in about 80 percent of the excavation area, and has now started the placement of the sub-base material.”